Young bear hunter kills hiker by mistake
August 03, 2008 - 10:20 AM
ROCKPORT – One shot and lives were changed for ever.
A teenaged hunter on Sauk Mountain Saturday took aim at the figure about 120 yards away and pulled the trigger.
What the Concrete youth thought was a bear turned out to be a 54-year-old woman from Oso hiking with a friend, Skagit County Sheriff’s deputies said. The shot was fatal.
The woman was hiking on the mountain near Rockport with a friend, just five or 10 minutes from the trail head, when she was struck by a bullet, said Sgt. Bill Heinchk, of the state Department of Fish and Wildlife.
According to a Sheriff’s Office news release, the woman had stopped on the trail to put something in her backpack when the hunter took one deadly shot.
The hunter and the victim were about 120 yards away from each other in an alpine area with trees, meadows and brush on very steep terrain, Heinchk said. The juvenile had been hunting with at least one adult at the time of the incident.
Bear hunting season, the earliest hunting season of the year, opened Saturday. The season continues through the end of the year.
Heinchk said that the hunters in the party that included the Concrete youth in the Sauk Mountain shooting all had valid licenses.
State law requires anyone born after Jan. 1, 1972 to pass a Department of Fish and Wildlife hunter’s safety course to obtain hunting licenses, said Fish and Wildlife Capt. Bill Hebner.
There are typically about 20 hunting accidents every year in the area, Heinchk said, and one or two of those are fatal. This accident was unique.
In many hunting accidents, victims are shot by other hunters in their own party, especially during bird season, when they’re quickly whipping their guns around to shoot, Heinchk said.
“A lot of hunting accidents are the Vice President (Dick) Cheney type,” he said.
Other times, hunters’ guns go off when they’re not prepared.
Hunting accidents are rare during bear season, because the number of hunters is much lower than for deer or elk season. Bears are hunted for the sport, as well as meat, which Heinchk said, is comparable to pork.
“We haven’t had any (fatalities) here during bear season, that I can remember,” he said.
Neither the shooter or the victim’s name were released. No one was arrested.
The victim was a resident of Oso, a small community in Snohomish County just south of the line with Skagit County and halfway between Arlington and Darrington.
Due to the steep terrain of where the body fell, emergency search and rescue ground crew volunteers were called to assist in recovery. Those volunteers are trained to work in difficult terrain.
Detectives from the Skagit County Sheriff’s Office as well as an officer from the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife are investigating.
Heinchk encouraged all hunters and all recreational hunters to wear bright orange during any hunting season. Although, he acknowledged, that many people are not aware that bear hunting season is open.
John Koenig, a long-time hunting and fishing guide based in Rockport, said Saturday that hunters should avoid areas where trails are well-maintained since good trails attract the most hikers.
He said that when he guides hunting trips in the area of Sauk Mountain he takes his clients to the more rugged north side of the mountain, where hikers rarely venture.
The exact location of the hiker when she was shot wasn't clear Saturday.
But Koenig said that no hunter should fire on a target unless it has been clearly and positively identified.
"You can't just see a black spot and shoot," he said.
His advice to hikers during hunting season is to stay on the most maintained trails and wear orange vests or jackets.
"You want to stick out like a sore thumb," he said.
Fish and Wildlife’s Heinchk said he always tells his hunter’s safety class: “Once that gun goes off, there is no taking it back, everyone’s lives are changed forever.”
• Tahlia Ganser can be reached at 360-416-2148 or at
[email protected]
